The new cultivar is a product of chance discovery by the inventors, Timothy Sterling and Andrew Schenk. This new variety, hereinafter referred to as ‘Urban Spire’, was selected as single seedling among a commercial planting of numerous seedling trees of unpatented, unnamed Metasequoia glyptostroboides. The novel variety was discovered in a commercial nursery in Malvern, Pa. during August of 2007.
After identifying the new variety as a potentially interesting selection, first propagation of ‘Urban Spire’ occurred by bud wood graft during September of 2012 at a commercial nursery in Malvern, Pa. The inventor continued controlled testing and propagation, assessing stability of the unique characteristics of this variety. Three generations have been reproduced and have shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.